Today’s Daily Stoic writing prompt: What would forgiveness feel like?

For me, forgiveness means no longer letting the misdeeds of others occupy mental real estate. It does not mean forgetting–it means learning a lesson in trust, and adjusting future expectations accordingly.

I do not carry grudges. I rage deeply (and often, privately), get that over with, and move on. For instance, something happened a few days ago that was a betrayal of trust–although not a serious one. Within a day, the rage was largely gone, and now it feels odd that I even felt it. But I learned from it, and it may affect future expectations.

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Today, my day off, and my trips to two of the more spectacular waterfalls in the area, Tew’s Falls (and Dundas Peak) and Webster Falls.

We definitely chose a great day to visit these parks. At Dundas Peak, we saw about ten other people, but largely had the trails to ourselves. At Webster, we were the only ones in the area. These are parks that have become hugely popular on weekends, so much so that they now require reservations regardless of the day of the week. And it costs about a total of $36 to visit each park if you park. But they were worth it.

Tew’s Falls is jaw-dropping, a 60 ft. ribbon falls that, according to a handy sign, may once have been as large as Niagara’s Horseshoe Falls.

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Then, a hike uphill, alongside the Spencer Gorge, to Dundas Peak, which overlooks the town of Dundas.

The trail took about an hour to complete. Since our reservation for Webster’s Falls was not until 3, we did a quick grocery run, returned home, and went out again.

Webster’s Falls was located on a much smaller property, sandwiched in between all kinds of high-end houses. In fact, we had to park in one park and then walk into another as the main entrance for the Webster’s Falls park itself is closed.

This particular falls is shorter, but also wider (it was also impossible to get an unobstructed view–stupid trees! (Just kidding) Just upstream, there once was a mill, and there are still remnants of it on the property.

Back home, changed clothes, and spent some time looking over the 90 items for SMASH. Grabbed a few of them to work on over the next week. Then, off to the Keg for our anniversary dinner. It was surprisingly busy for a Monday–but, then again, restaurants have only been open indoors since Friday. Prime rib, mushrooms, hot bread, a nice salad, garlic mash, and the obligatory Billy Miner pie. (Yes, this was for two of us). A nice day to celebrate 30 years.